# 2023 Rose Bowl

The 2023 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2023, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. The 109th annual Rose Bowl, the game featured Penn State from the Big Ten Conference and Utah from the Pac-12 Conference. The game began at 2:11 p.m. PST and was aired on ESPN and ESPN Radio. It was one of the 2022–23 bowl games concluding the 2022 FBS football season. Sponsored by Prudential Financial, the game is officially known as The Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential.
This game was the final Rose Bowl with its conference tie in of Pac 12 vs Big Ten before the expansion of the College Football Playoff to 12 teams in 2024 (2025 Calendar year) and hosting the final four team playoff semifinal in 2023 (2024 Calendar year).
Induction ceremonies to the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame were held before the game honoring three-time Rose Bowl Game head coach Hugo Bezdek (1884–1952), recently retired Rose Bowl Stadium CEO Darryl Dunn, 1977 Rose Bowl Game MVP Vince Evans (USC), and 1987 All-American Lorenzo White (Michigan State).

## Teams

Based on conference tie-ins, the game featured Big Ten Conference team Penn State and Pac-12 Conference champion Utah. Utah earned their spot by defeating #4 USC in the Pac-12 Championship by a score of 47–24 on December 2. Penn State earned their spot after Ohio State and Michigan made it to the College Football Playoff. This was Utah's second consecutive Rose Bowl, with an appearance in last year's edition against the Ohio State Buckeyes, while this was Penn State's 5th overall Rose Bowl game, most recently playing in the 2017 edition against the USC Trojans.
This game marked the Nittany Lions' 100th anniversary of their first Rose Bowl Game. They were defeated by Southern California 14–3 on January 1, 1923. This was the first time Utah and Penn State had ever played each other.

### Penn State Nittany Lions

The Nittany Lions earned their 5th overall Rose Bowl bid after they finished the regular season as the 3rd highest ranked team from the Big Ten Conference. The two higher ranked teams in the Big Ten, Michigan and Ohio State, both reached the College Football Playoff, giving the Nittany Lions the trip to Pasadena. Penn State finished their regular season with an overall 10–2 record, 7–2 in Big Ten play. Their losses came to Michigan and Ohio State in the 7th and 9th weeks of the regular season, respectively.

### Utah Utes

After winning their second-straight Pac-12 championship, this was the second consecutive Rose Bowl appearance for the Utes, who lost to Ohio State in the 2022 edition. Utah finished their regular season with a 9–3 overall record, 7–2 in Pac-12 play. Their losses came to Florida, UCLA (in the same stadium), and Oregon. The Utes faced USC in the Pac-12 Championship, a rematch between the teams. Utah had defeated USC on October 15 by a 43–42 score (USC's only regular season loss), and defeated them again for the Pac-12 title, 47–24. The Utes entered the Rose Bowl with an overall 10–3 record.

## Game summary

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| No. 11 Penn State | 7 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 35 |
| No. 8 Utah | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
at Rose Bowl • Pasadena, California
* Date: Monday, January 2, 2023
* Game time: 2:00 p.m. PST
* Game weather: Cloudy • Temperature: 54 °F (12 °C) • Wind: 2 mph (3.2 km/h) northwest
* Game attendance: 94,873
* Referee: Michael Vandervelde
* TV announcers (ESPN): Chris Fowler (play-by-play), Kirk Herbstreit (analyst), and Holly Rowe (sideline)
* Box score
Scoring summary :
| Quarter | Time | Drive | Drive | Drive | Team | Scoring information | Score | Score |
| Quarter | Time | Plays | Yards | TOP | Team | Scoring information | Penn State | Utah |
| 1 | 0:07 | 11 | 82 | 4:51 | Penn State | Nicholas Singleton 5-yard touchdown run, Jake Pinegar kick good | 7 | 0 |
| 2 | 7:55 | 13 | 75 | 7:12 | Utah | Thomas Yassmin 1-yard touchdown reception from Cameron Rising, Jordan Noyes kick good | 7 | 7 |
| 2 | 4:47 | 6 | 70 | 3:08 | Penn State | Mitchell Tinsley 10-yard touchdown reception from Sean Clifford, Jake Pinegar kick good | 14 | 7 |
| 2 | 2:38 | 6 | 75 | 2:09 | Utah | Ja'Quinden Jackson 19-yard touchdown run, Jordan Noyes kick good | 14 | 14 |
| 3 | 9:25 | 3 | 95 | 0:52 | Penn State | Nicholas Singleton 87-yard touchdown run, Jake Pinegar kick good | 21 | 14 |
| 4 | 14:49 | 3 | 94 | 1:29 | Penn State | KeAndre Lambert-Smith 88-yard touchdown reception from Sean Clifford, Jake Pinegar kick good | 28 | 14 |
| 4 | 10:36 | 5 | 47 | 2:44 | Penn State | Kaytron Allen 1-yard touchdown run, Jake Pinegar kick good | 35 | 14 |
| 4 | 0:25 | 8 | 78 | 1:47 | Utah | Jaylen Dixon 5-yard touchdown reception from Bryson Barnes, Jordan Noyes kick good | 35 | 21 |
| "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. | 35 | 21 |

## Statistics

Team statistical comparison :
| Statistic | Penn State | Utah |
| First downs | 14 | 23 |
| First downs rushing | 5 | 12 |
| First downs passing | 9 | 9 |
| First downs penalty | 0 | 2 |
| Third down efficiency | 7–13 | 11–19 |
| Fourth down efficiency | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Total plays–net yards | 54–448 | 83–391 |
| Rushing attempts–net yards | 31–169 | 43–184 |
| Yards per rush | 5.5 | 4.3 |
| Yards passing | 279 | 207 |
| Pass completions–attempts | 16–22 | 18–40 |
| Interceptions thrown | 0 | 2 |
| Punt returns–total yards | 2–4 | 0–0 |
| Kickoff returns–total yards | 3–68 | 1–15 |
| Punts–average yardage | 5–46.4 | 5–40.8 |
| Fumbles–lost | 0–0 | 0–0 |
| Penalties–yards | 3–33 | 4–25 |
| Time of possession | 24:47 | 35:13 |
Penn State statistics :
| Nittany Lions passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Sean Clifford | 16–21 | 279 | 2–0 |
| Drew Allar | 0–1 | 0 | 0–0 |
| Nittany Lions rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Nicholas Singleton | 7 | 120 | 2 |
| Kaytron Allen | 11 | 37 | 1 |
| Tank Smith | 4 | 15 | 0 |
| Sean Clifford | 8 | -1 | 0 |
| TEAM | 1 | -2 | 0 |
| Nittany Lions receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| KeAndre Lambert-Smith | 3 | 124 | 1 |
| Mitchell Tinsley | 6 | 49 | 1 |
| Harrison Wallace III | 2 | 47 | 0 |
| Theo Johnson | 1 | 28 | 0 |
| Kaytron Allen | 3 | 16 | 0 |
| Tyler Warren | 1 | 15 | 0 |
Utah statistics :
| Utes passing ||||||
| | C–A | Yds | TD–INT |
| Bryson Barnes | 10–19 | 112 | 1–1 |
| Cameron Rising | 8–21 | 95 | 1–1 |
| Utes rushing ||||||
| | Car | Yds | TD |
| Ja'Quinden Jackson | 13 | 81 | 1 |
| Micah Bernard | 11 | 59 | 0 |
| Cameron Rising | 9 | 56 | 0 |
| Money Parks | 1 | 9 | 0 |
| Jaylen Dixon | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| Devaughn Vele | 1 | -9 | 0 |
| Bryson Barnes | 7 | -17 | 0 |
| Utes receiving ||||||
| | Rec | Yds | TD |
| Devaughn Vele | 5 | 100 | 0 |
| Jaylen Dixon | 6 | 64 | 1 |
| Logan Kendall | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Money Parks | 1 | 12 | 0 |
| Ja'Quinden Jackson | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Micah Bernard | 3 | 8 | 0 |
| Thomas Yassmin | 1 | 1 | 1 |